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question about fish handling post cut

i made ceviche tonight out of atlantic salmon. i cut very thing slices with my yanagi. the cuts looked great but, as soon as i picked them up, they started falling apart. salmon isn't the densest fish, but i imagine there is a special way to handling it. are there any special tips for it and other similar fish? do i need to cut salmon thicker? i've done this with tuna and it worked great: perfect intact translucent slices.

Without getting into a discussion of whether you should be using unfrozen, salmon (either farmed or wild) for raw preparations (which you shouldn't), salmon that is mishandled will tend to fall apart along the seams or grains of its flesh. Also, salmon that has been pre-cut into fillets will tend to fall apart quicker because the meat will stretch and bend when handled, causing the meat to fall apart.

Your best bet for any ceviche, crudo, or sushi type preparation is to buy whole fish, break them down yourself at home. Keep the fish whole will, at a minimum, minimize flesh degradation by (1) minimizing exposure to air, (2) keeping the physical structure intact (i.e. the bones of the fish keep the fish from bending, twisting and falling apart).

Lastly, many fish processors, especially for large fish like salmon, put the fish through a de-boning process to pull out the pin bones. This, IMHO, is the quickest way to cause the meat to fall apart as the pin bones in the fish hold the meat together. Pin bones should be pulled out as close to the time that you intend to prepare the fish as possible. Notice how the flesh looks before and after the pin bones are taken out, even with super fresh fish that's in rigor mortis. Even super firm, fresh fish will suffer tears as soon as you pull the pin bones out.

it was certainly farmed salmon (the Atlantic in the name just delineates it from other species of salmon), though a bit redder than the regular cheapo stuff. precut and deboned filet, sold skin on. sounds like what i experienced is just par for the course with fish bought prepared that way. it worked out just as deliciously as i expected, the presentation just wasn't quite what i wanted. the last time i broke down a large whole fish in my kitchen my apartment smelled of it for days, so i think i'll just put up with the flesh coming apart, though i may see if i can find bone in pieces locally. thanks!

You can try to find a fishmonger who has whole fish and ask him to fillet it for you lol. you may wanna try ocean trout for a smaller fish. same rosy flesh tho a lighter shade.
I didn't realise that wild atlantic salmon was extinct. Gotta do more reading haha.

Ic. Its ocean trout that has that pinkish colour. I don't believe that any other species of trout has that. Lucky you to be able to get decent tuna. In Singapore all we get are the frozen ones unless you wanna spend a mini fortune importing a fresh one and have it go tru the agri-veterinary health department.. I usually do snapper and scallops as we can get good quality stuff on this. Mind sharing your recipe?